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Who are the top NFL coaching candidates next offseason? Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel and Liam Coen were among the most coveted NFL head coach candidates last spring. One year later, their respective teams are in the playoff hunt and teams on the outside of it are looking for their next coach.
There aren’t nearly as many top-end candidates this year, with some of the biggest names highlighted coming into the season not delivering quite as much success as expected. Still, when evaluating the best NFL coaching candidates for 2026, there are plenty of intriguing names.
Even before the Micah Parsons acquisition, Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley had done excellent work with the unit. In the final 11 regular-season games in 2024, Green Bay held opponents to just 19.7 PPG with a 38.8 percent third-down conversion rate, and the unit ranked third in Defensive EPA per Play (-0.06). Unsurprisingly, the defense has been even better this season with Parsons. Hafley has head-coaching experience in college (Boston College, 2020-’23), and he’s previously served as a defensive backs coach for Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and San Francisco. With the strong endorsements he’s received from both players and his peers, Hafley will almost certainly get multiple head-coaching interviews this offseason.
Related: NFL Defense Rankings 2025
It’s not a particularly strong crop of NFL coaching candidates in 2026, which could mean former head coaches have increased odds of landing a gig. Mike McCarthy is the standout of the bunch. The 62-year-old took this season off from coaching, but he seems open to returning to the sideline. He ranks 15th all-time in wins (174), posting a .618 winning percentage with the Packers (13 seasons) and a .583 winning percentage with the Dallas Cowboys. In 18 seasons as an NFL head coach, McCarthy’s teams made the playoffs 12 times with 11 seasons with double-digit wins. The combination of his experience, consistency, and his background in helping quarterbacks could prove highly appealing for teams seeking a sure thing.
Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will be the most coveted head-coaching candidate in the NFL this offseason. He worked under head coach John Harbaugh from 2017-2020 with the Baltimore Ravens, and then found himself calling plays as defensive coordinator for Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines (2022-23). After winning a national championship with Harbaugh at Michigan, he followed him to Los Angeles. Inheriting a defense that the previous season ranked 24th in Defensive EPA per Play (0.019) and 23rd in Success Rate (44.3 percent) prior to his arrival, Minter has orchestrated a top-five defense in EPA per Play (-0.048) and top-seven in Success Rate (42.1 percent) over the last two seasons.
Read More: NFL Free Agency Rankings 2026, 10 Best NFL Free Agents
For the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season as the New Orleans Saints offensive...
